Predictions of the World’s Fate

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 16, 1907

Predictions of the World’s Fate

THE declaration of our Saviour to the effect that in the time of the end men’s hearts would be failing them for fear and looking after those things that are coming upon the world, finds a partial fulfilment, at least, in the predictions of some eminent scientists. We quote from the Detroit News Tribune:—

Many and varied are the fates which have been forecasted for the world by those who have achieved fame in the realm of science and discovery.

Lord Kelvin believes that in three hundred and thirty-four years all human beings remaining in the world will be suffocated by the lack of oxygen to breathe. The great scientist bases his assertion on the grounds that, as every ton of fuel burned consumes three tons of oxygen, the world’s supply of the latter must give out in the years mentioned.

A far worse fate is that augured by the famous American scientist, Nikola Tesla. It is, of course, a well-known fact that the earth is surrounded with vast currents of electricity, and the experiments made by balloonists above the clouds prove that these currents are of a density impossible for human beings to fathom. Mr. Tesla therefore believes that at some future age this electricity will suddenly burst into flame, and so terrific will be the heat that in the space of a few seconds the earth and those who inhabit it will crumble away in dust.

M. Flammarion, the great French astronomer, has calculated that in the twenty-fifth century the earth will be wiped out by a collision with the comet Biela, the proximity of which to the earth a few years ago caused so much uneasiness. The size of the comet in question is such that it could in collision destroy a world several times the size of ours without much damage to itself.

An even more fearful fate is that prophesied by the Spanish scientist, Senor Rigletto. Fifty-six years from the present time he believes that the world will meet with a tragic fate by collision with two combined heavenly bodies, such a combination, in fact, as was noticed early in March of this year. The effect of these planets being so close to the earth would be to destroy the gases which sustain human life, and, although millions would be killed in the space of a few hours, he augurs that the remainder will live for a short time longer in a state of madness caused by the rupture of the earth from its orbit.

The food scare has been more or less a topic of universal comment for some years past, and Sir William Crookes believes that it will be responsible for the end of the human race within thirty years from the present time. During the past thirty-one years the number of the world’s bread-eaters has exactly doubled, and if a proportionate increase may be expected during ensuing years, some clever people believe that Sir William Crookes’s augury may come true. In thirty years he calculates that the amount of bread required will be greater than the world can supply, even supposing that it is almost entirely under cultivation. The moral of this would seem to be that we must find a new food—and that quickly.

Two famous novelists who have become well known for their scientific works, have foretold gruesome fates for the world. One of these, the late Mr. Grant Allen, believed that within four centuries the weight upon the earth’s crust would become so great that the world would be no longer able to support it. The result would be that the molten lava, of which the interior of the globe is composed, would break through where the crust is weakest, and, forming in enormous lakes, slowly spread over the earth, destroying all life.

H. G. Wells’s prediction of the world’s end is no less terrifying, for in his opinion not many centuries will pass before the earth becomes a solid sheet of ice. The reason for this opinion he finds in the fact that, whereas millions of tons of water freeze every year, a lesser quantity thaws with the advent of summer. At both ends of the world this process of freezing is going on, and every year the regions of ice become greater.

The Word of God has plainly foretold the instrument of the earth’s destruction, and the other wonderful events that will take place at that time. While these events are certain, they present no hopeless and terrible prospect to the child of God. The hearts that are fainting for those things that are coming upon this world are the hearts that have not learned to believe and trust in the Word of God. “When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.”